Writers Guild Awards Announces 2019 TV Nominees

Variety — Dave McNary

“Barry” and “Bob’s Burgers” led the way with three Writers Guild of America nominations each, followed by two each for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Succession” and “The Simpsons.”

HBO’s dark comedy “Barry,” starring Bill Hader as a troubled hitman, scored nominations for top comedy series, top new series and top comedy episode with the debut segment “Chapter One: Make Your Mark,” which Hader directed. Hader and Henry Winkler won Emmys in September for their roles in the series, which has been renewed for a second season.

Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers” was nominated for three episodes in the animated category — “Boywatch,” “Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now” and “Mo Mommy Mo Problems.” The series is in its ninth season and a “Bob’s Burgers” movie is due out the summer of 2020.

Hulu’s dystopian “The Handmaid’s Tale” was nominated in the top drama series and top drama episode for its “First Blood” segment. It won the drama series and new series WGA Awards this year.

HBO’s “Succession,” a portrait of corporate intrigue at a fictional media empire, took nominations in the top drama series and new series categories. Fox’s “The Simpsons” scored noms for its “Bart’s Not Dead” and “Krusty the Clown” segments.

Along with “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Succession,” the other top drama series nominees were the final season of FX’s”The Americans,” AMC’s “Better Call Saul” and Netflix’s “The Crown.” “Barry” was joined in the top comedy series category by FX’s “Atlanta,” Netflix’s “GLOW,” NBC’s “The Good Place” and Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” “Veep” won the category this year.

Along with “Barry” and “Succession,” the new series nominees are Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” Amazon’s “Homecoming” and FX’s “Pose.” In addition to “Handmaid’s Tale,” the top drama episodes were segments for Netflix’s “Narcos: Mexico,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” Showtime’s “The Affair” and “Homeland” and Netflix’s “Ozark.”

The top comedy episodes nominees, in addition to “Barry,” were Amazon’s “Forever,” the pilot for ABC’s “The Kids Are Alright” and a trio of Netflix segments for “Santa Clarita Diet,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Orange Is the New Black.”

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” was nominated for the comedy/variety sketch series category, which it won this year, with the WGA listing a total of 39 writers. Also nominated were TruTV’s “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” IFC’s “Portlandia,” Sarah Silverman’s Hulu docuseries “I Love You, America,” and Comedy Centrals’ “Nathan for You.”

In the comedy/variety talk series’ category, this year’s winner “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” was nominated along with “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The WGA announced the nominations eight hours after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association unveiled its Golden Globe film and TV nominations. “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” scored four Globe nods and “The Americans,” “Barry,” “Homecoming,” “The Kominsky Method,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Sharp Objects” and “A Very English Scandal” took three each.

Eligibility for the WGA television awards had previously been for the Dec. 1-Nov. 30 period but this year’s eligibility period is for shows that aired during the 13-month period between Dec. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2018. The WGA announced in July that it had granted a one-time extension of an extra month of eligibility that includes last December. It will use the 12-month 2019 calendar year as the eligibility period next year.

The awards will be presented on Feb. 17 in joint ceremonies at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., and New York City’s Edison Ballroom following voting by the WGA’s 13,000 members. Feature film nominations will be announced Jan. 7.

Here’s the complete list of nominations, announced Thursday afternoon: